NEC Avenue

[NeoZeedeater]

Although Hudson was the main contributor of first-party games to NEC's consoles, NEC Avenue still made a bunch of quality games. Their games can be divided into two categories: ports and original games.


Ports


Capcom had several arcade ports by NEC Avenue.

The shooter Side Arms was ported to the TurboGrafx. I haven't played the original but I enjoyed this version.


Forgotten Worlds was ported to Super CD. I still haven't played this one but it looks nicer than the Genesis port although it's still missing the trackball control of the arcade game.


Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the short-lived SuperGrafx console was the best console port until the 32-bit era. Does anyone not love G&G?


Strider was planned for the SuperGrafx but never came out. Instead, NEC made a CD version that required the Arcade Card upgrade.

The platformer Chiki Chiki Boys was ported to the Duo. I never cared much for the arcade game; it seemed like a lesser Monster World.

Street Fighter II: Champion Edition was an amazing port. NEC even released a special 6-button controller because of it. As for why NEC never brought it outside of Japan, they must have either been really stupid or had a good reason I don't know about.


NEC wasn't the only company that ported Capcom games. Hudson did 1941 and Buster Bros..

NEC Avenue also had various Sega arcade ports.

Thunder Blade was an okay version but they tried too hard to squeeze the arcade game into hardware that couldn't handle it and it turned out kind of sloppy. http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/tg16/thunderblade.html

I haven't played the PC Engine port of Altered Beast.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/tg16/alteredbeast.html

Out Run for the PC Engine was an excellent version for its time.


They did a good job on Space Harrier for the TurboGrafx.


After Burner 2 for PC Engine was a better port than Sega's Genesis version. Very smooth.


Gain Ground was ported to the Duo.

Fantasy Zone surpassed the SMS port although like Space Harrier and After Burner there are now versions closer to the arcade available.


Speaking of Fantasy Zone, NEC was developing their own game in the franchise called Space Fantasy Zone for the Duo but it never came out, possibly due to legal issues with Sega. Space Fantasy Zone was basically a cross between Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier. I have played the prototype through emulation and it's pretty good considering the hardware and its lack of true scaling.


In case anyone's wondering about the other Sega-to-PCE ports, Asmik did Shinobi and Power Drift, and Telenet did Golden Axe.

Horror Story was a Duo port of the Toaplan arcade game(AKA Demon's World).
http://upce.netfirms.com/hstory/hstoryp.htm

NEC Avenue also did the Duo port of Compile's Puyo Puyo.

Operation Wolf was a good version of Taito's arcade game but since the PCE didn't have a gun, the experience was somewhat tainted.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/tg16/02/opwolf.html

NEC Avenue ported Elf's computer hentai adventure game Classmates 2 to PC-FX.

They also ported Elf's hentai computer RPG series Dragon Knight to the Duo and PC-FX.
The last NEC Avenue release I'm aware of is Dragon Knight IV for PC-FX in 1997.


For those wondering, the only version of Dragon Knight commercially available in English is the PC version of Dragon Knight III under the name Knights of Xentar.


Original Games


Download was an excellent horizontal shooter for the PC Engine. Note the awesome Engrish is the bottom pic.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/01/download.html

I haven't played its CD sequel but I hear it's not quite as good.


Son Son 2 was a sequel to Capcom's 1984 arcade game. It was an awesome platform game with some adventure elements. It's a shame NEC never localized it(I guess crap like J.J. and Jeff was more important to them).


Basted - An Action/RPG based on the anime.


Ane-san - Has anyone played this beat 'em up?


I'm not sure what happened to NEC Avenue, if they got renamed or became part of another NEC team or what. It's confusing since not all NEC games are NEC Avenue games. Duo games like Emerald Dragon and Dead of the Brain are from NEC Home Electronics and most PC-FX games by NEC are not Avenue games.

Your thoughts on NEC Avenue or anything related? Did I miss anything?

[Geruto]

Great thread.

SF2:CE on the PCE is a turd. It looks amazing though, but it's completly unplayable due to slowdown and delay in controls.

I agree on Sonson2. It's a great game. Hard though.

[Adrian]

I can respect what they did back in the day but now they hold no value to me. Certainly a talented bunch mind.

[Wilykat]

Great thread.

Son Son II is still quite a gem.

[voltz]

Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Strider was planned for the SuperGrafx but never came out. Instead, NEC made a CD version that required the Arcade Card upgrade.

I remember something about that. Didn't the game look better then the arcade after they brought it out?

[Melf]

Thanks for the info on Download. I just bought it from jiji and can't wait for it to get here.

[MechDeus]

Note the awesome Engrish is the bottom pic.

Was that intentional?

[skelly]

Originally posted by voltz
I remember something about that. Didn't the game look better then the arcade after they brought it out?

I've never heard anything good said about this port.

The SuperGrafx version has long been rumored to be available in beta form, but no one has ever been able to deliver the goods (that is, proof). I seem to recall that the lead programmer of one of these Strider ports either died or had to be hospitalized after working on the game. I think that was mentioned on BT Garner's Turbo List at one point.

Oh and btw, I don't care for G&G.

[NeoZeedeater]

I was drooling over those SuperGrafx Strider pictures back in the day only to find out years later that those were arcade screens they showed in magazines.

The Duo version of Strider isn't supposed to be that great. And with the near-perfect Playstation version available, there's little reason to buy it today unless you're a collector.

No Mechdeus, that wasn't intentional but that's pretty funny that I didn't notice that.

[Low]

A few others:

NEC Avenue published Darius Plus (Hu/Super)Super Darius (CD), and Super Darius 2.

They made the original game Splash Lake, a simply "ok" action puzzle game that was released in the US as well.

And for Sega titles they also put out Bonanza Brothers, which features more levels than the Genny version while retaining the great color of the game. Unfortunately I've owned this game for two years and have yet to play it. It's one of a handful of system 2.0 CDs that will only work on a US Duo with a Arcade card pro hooked up.

Did they make the ultra expensive title "Sapphire" too?


Overall a good company that filled a niche on the system, a few of their titles are off in some ways. Gain Ground for example has great music and larger sprites than the Genny version, but has 10 levels missing. Arcade card Strider has a whole new level and some nice cinemas and music, the rest of the game isn't up to the Genny and PSone versions though.

*-neo